The Land of Black Opals. In this book, Ion Idriess tells of his beginnings, of his childhood in Lismore, Tamworth and Broken Hill, of his apprenticeship in bushcraft, and of the growing love for the Australian Outback which illumines all his work. He tells of the jobs he had - as rouseabout, horse breaker, horse tailer, shearer - and of his wanderings to the opal mines of Lightning Ridge. He became one of the band of opal-seekers who live in these pages, sharing their heartbreaks and their sudden, wild exulatations. And the stories he tells of his mates are little gems in themselves, vivid in characterization, rich in sympathy and understanding. - Adelaide Advertiser, 1940.